DED launches benchmarking programme to drive participation in Business Excellence Awards

The Business Excellence Department (BED) in the Department of Economic Department (DED), Dubai has launched a new benchmarking initiative in partnership with Emirates Business Management International Consultants, a Dubai-based professional services company, as part of reinforcing the excellence drive in the emirate. 

The ‘EBM Benchmarking Partners’ programme, a first-of-its-kind initiative in the region, aims to promote sharing of best practices and enable businesses and organisations participating in DED’s Business Excellence Awards to benchmark their practices against a set of performance indicators. 

Commenting on the programme, Ali Ibrahim, DED Deputy Director General for Planning & Development Affairs, said it would help organisations improve their performance standards, thereby leading to an improved excellence environment in the UAE. 

“With the ‘EBM Benchmarking Partners’ programme, organisations will be able to apply for the Business Excellence Awards with more accurate benchmarking data, which has been one of the lowest scoring areas for several years due to non-availability of such data. The programme is meant to assist in benchmarking excellence with focus on customers, employees, society and business results. We will continue to develop the Business Excellence Awards through such initiatives every year,” Ibrahim added. 

The annual Business Excellence Awards comprise the Dubai Quality Award (DQA), Dubai Human Development Award (DHDA) and the Dubai Service Excellence Scheme (DSES). All organisations wishing to be part of the Business Excellence Awards can enroll in ‘EBM Benchmarking Partners’. The programme offers three tiers of membership – Classic, Advance and Premium – and members will have access to data, and avail other benefits, based on the type of membership.

Member organisations will also share their own data on relevant parameters on the ‘EBM Benchmarking Partners’ data repository. The data will also be made available online in specific formats while maintaining confidentiality. Restricted access will be made available with secure user name and passwords.

Indu Singhal, Managing Director, Emirates Business Management International Consultants commented: “The purpose of this joint initiative with DED is to facilitate industry and process-wise comparative information for organisations, with a view to drive organisations towards raising the bar of business excellence not only within their own organisations, but in the business community as a whole, in alignment with the larger goals and objectives of Dubai and the UAE.”